Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Any good hikes during the winter?

I'm back home in the Bay Area for the next month and a half or so, and I would really like to start my peak bagging adventures in the Sierras. I am not experienced in serious winter terrain, but I would like to get my feet wet (literally) and build my way up. I was looking at peaks near Tahoe (Freel, Flagpole peak), and while they sound fun, it seems a little boring compared to something like doing Mid Pal over the summer. I also really want to do the Gould to Dragon traverse, but I'm assuming December isn't a good time.

So I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any decent peaks I could bag with just enough excitement to practice, say dry tooling for Whitney's final 400, while not having to worry much about getting buried alive in an avalanche? I understand that we're in for a low snow year in the South, so maybe someone knows of some fun and easy scrambling routes that a noob like me could take on?

I plan on getting Secor's book "The High Sierra". Looks like its got an extensive description of everything, but I don't know if he offers advice for the winter season.